Expanding the role of percutaneous coronary intervention in patients resuscitated from cardiac arrest

Special attention to post-cardiac arrest management is important to long-term survival and favorable neurological outcome in patients resuscitated from cardiac arrest. The use of emergent percutaneous coronary intervention in resuscitated patients presenting with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction has long been considered an appropriate approach for coronary revascularization. Recent evidence suggests that other subsets of patients, namely, post-cardiac arrest patients without ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, may benefit from immediate percutaneous coronary intervention following resuscitation. These findings could eventually have important implications for the care of resuscitated patients, including transportation of resuscitated patients to appropriate cardiac interventional facilities, access to treatment modalities such as therapeutic hypothermia, and coordinated care with cardiac catheterization laboratories.